


Painless

by BlueMoonHound



Series: Pipesstuck [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Injury, M/M, budding moirailegence, pipesstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 11:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13212465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMoonHound/pseuds/BlueMoonHound
Summary: Strife.It's something you're comfortable with – a good way to vent your anger, and you have finally mastered fighting with the knives Nepeta gave you, which is nice. You grit your teeth and stop a sickle from flying into your skull with a well-executed flash. Then you step back, panting, and run a hand through your now-overlong hair to get it out of your face.(takes place a little after the main finished storyline of pipesstuck.)





	Painless

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago and figured I should post it because it's a good fic and it's doing no good sitting in a folder for ages. Will I get back to pipesverse? maybe. I don't hate it, so I don't see any reason to drop it entirely. Sorry for the extended silence. I'll keep u posted <3

Strife.

It's something you're comfortable with – a good way to vent your anger, and you have finally mastered fighting with the knives Nepeta gave you, which is nice. You grit your teeth and stop a sickle from flying into your skull with a well-executed flash. Then you step back, panting, and run a hand through your now-overlong hair to get it out of your face.

“Come on, Kar, I'm not a fuckin wiggler, hit me already.” You leer.

Karkat growls and lunges at you again. You stop one sickle deftly with one hand and hop backwards over the other.

“How did you get so fucking good at this???” he hisses, trying again.

“You ever strifed with Nep? Yeah. Shes got practice.” You stick out your tongue. “Don't be afraid to take it up a notch if ya need.”

“Fuck you.”

You continue fighting for a while. You love the feeling – you've built up such a great stamina from hanging out in the pipes, that now that you're eating and sleeping regularly, you can work for hours. Kar's kinda incredible, too, since he probably hasn't slept in days. He does, however, manage to land a hit.

You flinch and fall to your knees at first, but you manage to ignore the pain and keep going. After a few more minutes Karkat calls off the fight.

“What?” you pant, pushing sweat-damp hair out of your face and blinking at him.

“You're bleeding.”

“I'm aw-ware.”

“No really, nooksink, your entire pant leg is violet. I'm pretty sure it was gray three minutes ago. How are you still standing?”

...Okay then. You look at your leg.

“My whole pant leg is not violet, just most 'a it.” you say. “I've dealt with worse.”

“ _When_??”

“When do you fuckin' think?” you growl at him.

“Oh my god, Eridan, That doesn't fucking count, you weren't fighting back and you basically passed the fuck out, how is that even the same? How does that even remotely demonstrate your skill in fighting injured?”

“I did also spend my entire childhood killin' lussii, Kar.”

“Eridan sit down.”

You oblige, albeit less gracefully than you had planned. Then the pain hits, just sort of everywhere, and you end up putting your head in your hands to try to force the world from spinning violently. It refuses. It's probably still a little upset with your general continued existence, to be honest.

“Eridan?”

“Eridan let me look at that cut.”  
You force yourself to focus. You reach down and fold your calf under your thigh, because it doesn't seem to want to move on its own-- and then you just sort of lie on the ground, because right now touching as much of the ground as possible seems like a good idea. Karkat, you suppose, took that as an invitation, because now he's touching your leg. He does something to the gash and your vision goes white.

 

When you wake up again the world is spinning unpleasantly. For a second, you think this is because you're dizzy, but then you realize that Karkat is carrying you. You know you have to be loopy because you reach up and pap his worried face with your free hand. He stares at you like you've grown two heads and speeds up, and you take that as a no.

Next thing you have the energy to pay attention to is Equius holding a plastic waterbottle of milk to your lips. Nepeta says something, and you feel a needle slide through your skin – okay. It was a deeper wound than you thought it was. Fuck.

You drink Eq's milk and lie back against the pillows.

 

You come back again still mostly upright on Nep's bed with a jug of water and another bottle of milk sitting on the end table. Your head and your leg throb in unison with the beating of your blood. You shift a little, and groan.

“Hey mister I can keep fighting. Maybe next time you should just admit that you're injured and fucking stop instead of being a stuck up asshole about that, too.”

You turn your head. Karkat's got his arms folded, leaning back on the same pillows as you. A romcom is overturned on his leg.

“What?”

“If you're in pain, say something next time.”

“I wasn't.”

“What?”

“Din't hurt till I actually paid attention to it. Eh. You woulda probably won, but I woulda been fine.”

“Did it also 'not hurt' when Kanaya knifed you???”

“After a while, I guess, but that's different, that was shock.”

“How do you DO that? Just ignore pain like that?”

“I don't know-w! You've done it too!! Don't tell me that our jack DIDN'T stab ya when he met ya.”

He shoves your shoulder, making your head pound a little. “Shut the fuck up.”

He then gets up and pours you a glass of water and sits there and makes sure you drink it slowly.

“Eridan...”

“What?”  
“Why are you always wearing the same old pants? You've patched them in like fifteen different places. Just retire them already.”

You laugh. “It's the only pair I got, kar.”

“No. What? Fuck, seriously? Why don't you borrow something from Equius or Nepeta? Or go to the damn alchemizer and make new ones?”

“Ya think I'm gonna take off my only pants so I can clone them? Eq's stuff is too small for me, Vris and Kan aren't as skinny so I wouldn't fit. I could put on weight but I have so much trouble getting myself to eat regularly I just don't think it'd work out. Kar...”

“Shit. Are you suggesting that _my_ clothes are the closest to what might fit you?”

“Prolly, yeah, but you hate me and fuck if I'm gonna ask. I know why ya care so much about your stuff, Kar, it's not on me to take it from ya.”

Karkat climbs out of the bed.

You open your mouth to apologize because maybe you went way too far there but he holds up a hand.

“I'm getting you some fucking pants. Don't move.”

“Oh.”

You lie back on your pillows as the door slams shut.

“Thanks,” you mumble to the empty room.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays! happy new year :p


End file.
